A New Beginning

Chapter 6: Drawing a Solution

Chapter 6: Drawing a Solution

Over the next few days, Emma spends most of her time in the nursery with Sybil. Peter tries to entice her to explore the ship, but she refuses. There wasn't much the couple could do together except visit the library or the smoking room. Any luxuries that were on the ship like the Turkish baths, or the gym or the swimming pool were for first-class only. Her nightmares also become worse and worse that she doesn't want to go anywhere anyway. The other night, she dreamt that she was trapped in one of the fancy hallways and it was slowly filling with water as she tried to escape. It feels like a vicious circle and it is far too late to try and get off the ship. It will be a few more days until the ship reaches New York if it ever does. Emma continues to have extremely bad feelings that these dreams are foreshadowing a coming disaster. The problem is if she said anything, everyone would think she's crazy and never believe her. She does her best to distract herself to take her mind of the foreboding sense of dread she has.

During the third day of the voyage at sea, Emma is sitting at the beautifully carved wooden desk looking at the stacks of paper in front of her. Peter had taken Sybil on a tour of the ship to give her a change of scenery. All the pieces of paper are business issues and there have been a few wireless messages from her father's law office in New York City. She feels overwhelmed and stressed, such big decisions put on an eighteen-year-old girl who knows nothing about business or how to run such an organization. She mutters angrily about why her father left everything to her and asks God why he had to take her parents so soon. Her mother died due to complications of her birth with Sybil, the assumed cause was eclampsia; and her father, along with the grief of losing his wife, which weakened his will to live, he contracted pneumonia after a business trip and was unable to get better. Emma lets a few small tears roll down her face as she flips through a business proposal. All this stress was waiting for her back in the city; a part of her was happy to go back home and the other wanted the trip to last as long as possible. So much was dumped on top of her along with the slow recovery from the grief she felt for her parents.

Emma eventually grows tired of reading, she shoves the papers aside and grabs her portfolio/sketchbook and coat. She walks out onto the deck and begins a search for something to draw. The wind is picking, up making her shiver and hold her portfolio close to her chest to prevent the pages from blowing away.

She finds a deck chair, a rug to keep her legs warm and sets herself up, she begins drawing two women having an afternoon stroll on the deck in their fancy hats and holding umbrellas even though there was not a single sign of rain. She's halfway through drawing when a gust of wind forces several of her pencils to roll onto the deck. She leans down to pick them up.

The wind suddenly catches one of her papers and begins blowing it down along the deck. Emma immediately gets up and runs after it. Of all the drawings the wind had to take, it was the picture of her family, the last picture of her family! The page blows further and further until it goes over the railing, down to the lower decks of the third-class passenger area. Emma does not hesitate to climb over the rail to chase after her sketch. She does not care if anyone sees her, besides they can't arrest her for going into the lower class. She's becoming tired as she scrambles after the sheet of paper, but it is too precious to let it go and give up on.

A handsome man, about 20 or so, catches the page in mid-air. Emma nearly runs into him, stopping so suddenly that her portfolio goes flying. Emma gets down on her knees and begins to gather the papers.

A set of hands come down and join her.

Emma looks up into his bright blue eyes. He has dirty blond hair and a youthful face that smiles up at her as he collects the papers. Emma can't help but blush at his dashing good looks. She smiles back.